There were a hundred twenty-some years ago when I wrote my
first rant on the subject:
"We often note that many components and frames change every
year for no good reason. Certainly the marketing department
loves change because they can tout this year's product as
being far superior to the useless crap they sold us a few
months ago. Designers have a vested interest in redesigning
everything all the time, else there would be less work for
designers. We poor hapless cyclists must swim on a sea of
planned obsolescence such that our year-old components are
abandoned by the vendor as "not worth fixing" and service
parts are more difficult to secure every year. Nothing
exhibits this so much as frame ends. Most of the aluminum
and carbon bicycles sold in America are not made by the
vendor whose name is on the frame. It is often quite
difficult to even determine who made the piece at all!
Famous brands such as Schwinn have had several owners in the
last few years and have sold frames made by a dozen or more
framebuilders in almost as many countries. A simple and
common repair, replacing a frame end, involves a scavenger
hunt for the right part and that search gets more difficult
every year. There is no earthly reason for so many frame
ends. The entire industry could easily build around two
designs instead of the nearly one hundred currently on the
road. Moreover, these ends are so small, so complex in shape
and so arranged as to make interchageabllity nearly
impossible. The cost to the manufacturer would be no
different with a standardized end system. The cost to the
rider now is horrendous, not so much in money as in
aggravation. The present situation is unacceptably chaotic
and a disservice to the cyclist- who has no idea about this
when he buys a bike and can be left with an irreparable
frame after a minor crash.
There. I've said it."
http://www.yellowjersey.org/enz.html
Currently there are something around 800 tab designs which
do not fit each other.